This seems sound to me

Found this in my draft file, but it’s still current. A reader wrote me at the beginning of April:

I pray you are doing well. I’ve been reflecting more on the implications of ObamaCare and thought I’d share some of my reflections with you, in case some of these thoughts are new to you.

On Monday Obama told Russian President Medvedev that he would have “more flexibility” during a second term. Obviously this is due to the fact that he won’t worry about having enough popular appeal to win a third term, since there is no possibility of a third term. (Unless he decides to try to overturn the 22nd Amendment, which is a discussion for another time). So the gloves will be off in a second term.

I’ve been analyzing what has happened during Obama’s term. One huge event that has perhaps been overlooked is forcing private lenders out of the federal Stafford loan program; now the government is the only lender for federal education loans. This coupled with ObamaCare means that the government is now the biggest player in education and health care in our country. These are only two examples, but clearly expanding big government is evidenced under the Obama administration.

Much has been made of the HHS mandate, providing “free” contraceptives, abortifacients, and sterilizations. These are classified as “preventive services”, while drugs that treat cancer are lower tier “essential services” that are not provided free of charge. Moreover, the coverage of “essential services” is relegated to the states, meaning that there will be a wide discrepancy on just how these services are covered from state to state. But back to the HHS mandate, there has been a lot of puzzling over it since there’s not an access issue for these services; most that want them are able to get them now. So why mandate they be provided for free? This is where my logic takes over.

Americans, even those not opposed to the mandate, should be very wary. The government doesn’t provide free services just to be nice. They’re not gifting citizens a way to have recreational sex; no, they’re wanting to regulate procreation. Humanae Vitae’s predictions over what would happen with a contracepting society have all come true, save one. Pope Paul VI mentions that a government could try to mandate use of a form of contraception. I believe it’s not that great of a leap to devise scenarios for mandated contraception and sterilization for certain groups of citizens. If a student is receiving any federal aid for higher education (grants or loans) they must be on long-acting contraception to ensure they stay in school (having a baby may cause them to drop out). If a family is receiving any federal assistance (food stamps, etc) they must be on long-acting contraception (a baby is another family member and another mouth to feed). You could go further and see mandated sterilization for those below poverty level, or even mandatory sterilization for everyone after the second child is born. Less mouths to feed and people for the government to take care of, especially if the government provides education and health care for its citizens. Going further, you could see mandatory abortions in the above examples for cases where the contraceptive fails (and it will fail). That’s why I think it likely that abortion is added to the “preventive services” if Obama is re-elected.

Right now it appears the government is focused on forcing religion out of the public sphere. Once that is done you’re closer to proclaiming that the dignity of the human person doesn’t come from God, it comes from government. If you can get your citizens to believe that, then morality is out the window. The government declares who and what is good and who and what has worth.

A couple more interesting points I would like to make. ObamaCare isn’t “universal” health care. It does not protect or provide health care for the most vulnerable: the unborn and the elderly. There will be what I call “death panels” for the elderly. They’re presented more as cost analysis panels, that will evaluate the cost of health care services for the very elderly to see if the cost is worth it to provide them for older citizens.

These points are not meant to scare or cause despair. I just feel it’s important to be informed and know what the stakes are/could be. We need to continue to pray and fast. And also realize that if ObamaCare stands there could likely be a lot of white martyrdom.

Yup. The man has made it clear he means to make war on the Church. And he means to use the weak and the vulnerable as human shields while he does it. I do not for the life of me see how any Catholic in his or her five wits can support him.

Seriously? You have got to be kidding…. Congrats on helping to continue to promote every myth about Obamacare…. Death Panels???? Wow, I thought intelligent people were beyond that? Anxiously awaiting the next post on Obama’s birth certificate…

http://www.communionantiphons.org Andy, Bad Person

Are cost analysis panels really that hard to believe?

ds

Insurance companies, of course, never analyze cost and benefit and make coverage decisions based upon such.

http://www.communionantiphons.org Andy, Bad Person

Of course they do, and when it crosses into the territory of letting people die to save a few dollars, it’s immoral.

The difference is that the government is all-consuming when it comes to taking over a market like this. They will be the only game in town, and if they say you don’t get treated, then you don’t get treated.

So you find it utterly inconcievable that government would seek this degree of control. It seems to me that we have someone who is just pointing out possible path that this counrty could take if we are not vigilant. And quite frankly this would not be the first time in history where something like this has happened. No one thinks this can happen in their country…until its too late.

MattyD

I agree with George. This is a stinky pile of hogwash heaped upon rotting nonsense.

ds

Ill third that. What a bunch of ridiculous bs. Isnt there enough for conservatives to object to in obamacare without creating paranoid fantasies about it?

Kevin

So George et al, um, you work yourself into enough of a lather to call someone’s soberly offered analysis ‘myth’ — all the hallmarks of argumentum ad hominem SO FAR.. How about formal proof of mythologies, since you are that convinced you’re correct?

ds

Obvious BS is obvious. Prove to me the lizard people aren’t tunneling under your house right now.

Irenist

This is interesting, but it’s a conspiracy theory, and those are a distorting prism through which to view history and politics: I don’t think the Bush Administration planned 9/11, and I don’t think the Obama Administration is planning this. Politicians are often foolish, corrupt, and self-aggrandizing, but very, very rarely cartoonishly evil.

Also: Forced contraception/sterilization for welfare or student aid, in addition to being a Huxleyesque nightmare, would never make it through our bipartisan system. Republicans would oppose it on pro-life grounds (despite their desire to disincentivize people from receiving welfare) and Democrats would oppose it because, as their outrage when Clinton endorsed Gingrich’s welfare reform agenda demonstrated, they don’t like attaching any strings at all to the receipt of government handouts (despite their desire to promote contraception). Even if someone were mad enough to propose it, without the support of either party, it wouldn’t go anywhere.

Further, the government would have had no less statutory power to attach a contraceptive requirement to Stafford loan receipt even if private lenders were still involved; the requirement that a recipient be, e.g., “at least a half-time student” predates the recent bypasing of the middleman.

Lastly: The “death panels” idea is indeed incorrect. It conflates two separate proposals. The first is the IPAB (Independent Payments Advisory Board), which is meant to rein in entitlement-driven deficits by crafting a formulary of approved cost-effective treatments for the entire Medicare system, NOT for specific patients–elderly or otherwise. The other is the proposal (initially championed by pro-life Republicans like Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., before it got demagogued by the likes of Sarah Palin and had to be pulled from the bill) to pay for seniors to consult with their doctors on the creation of living wills, so that, e.g., if someone ever ended up in a situation like poor Terri Schiavo, they could have a living will on file that said, e.g. “I am Catholic. Do not discontinue end of life care should I be in a vegetative state.”

The H.H.S. contraceptive mandate is awful and effectively anti-Catholic. But there are other parts of PPACA (“Obamacare”) that aren’t bad at all. Like most political ventures in our fallen world, it’s a mixed bag.

BHO

All he has to do is force it through by Executive Order or policy by directives by his cabinet agencies….FOCA was a dead legislatively and Obama has forced it upon us by executive order and HHS policy directives….more to follow with his mandates…they already have plans to force more the homosexual agenda on Americans by declaring any opposition as bigoted.

Ted Seeber

I agree with everything except for one small matter at the very end: I don’t believe the secular humanists think that the dignity of man comes from the government. I believe secular humanists do not believe that the dignity of man *EXISTS AT ALL*. It is the only explanation I can think of for why so-called “lovers of humanity” seem to be all bent towards the extinction of humanity.

Terentia

I am a registered nurse who deals daily with both government insurance (Medicare and Medicaid) and with many and various private insurances. Government insurance, especially Medicaid, is much more stupid and shortsighted about the care allowed. I think the big difference is that private insurances use physicians and nurses to determine which treatments to allow and the government mostly uses non-medical bean counters to make medical decisions. One recent example was in the press: a woman with pulmonary hypertension (an extremely serious, crippling and usually fatal condition) who was denied treatment because the non-medical gatekeeper did not know the difference between pulmonary hypertension and ordinary high blood pressure.

Seems sound to me. And in that vein, may I submit that is a lovely tinfoil hat you’re wearing.

Andy, Bad Person

Yet another commenter uninterested in having a conversation.

ds

Did u read the article? Earth day is Lenins bday so all those environmentalists are COMMIES OMG!!! (Including, i guess the pope cause he gave a homily abt the environment once for earth day.) How do u have a conversation over such obvs BS? Its worldnetdaily, theyre still flogging the birth certificate! If you dont like earth day, criticize it on its merits. Why do conservatives have to see commies and muslims and other boogie men hiding under their beds all the time? I thought you and mark were smarter than this.

antigon

Methinks the ladies George, ds, & Matty, do protest with an hysterical note rather more unnerving than the piece that provoked them.

ds

Methinks u dont understand the shakespearian reference ur making.

BHO

It could never happen in America; you are all victims of HOS (Hate Obama Syndrome) and the Government cannot tell religion what to do…..wait…. umm… never mind

john

Yes because nothing evil could ever happen in the USA… I do not hate Obama, I just distrust him as much as I did Bush.

BHO

Hmm, those are some good ideas…

Naomi

You know what I find far more disturbing about Obama than the HHS mandate? The fact that he and Congress colluded to ensure that there is no requirement for due process for those declared “terrorists”, while also declaring that there is no need to PROVE someone is a “terrorist” before treating them like one. Just a simple executive decision, “Hm, yes, this person is an anti-abortion ‘extremist’ and is there fore a terrorist” and you lose all your rights to a lawyer and due process. That’s what the National Defense Authorization Act says.

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